[GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with RPD/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/i3/Openbox/X11 GUI

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 5:22 am

by GhostRaider

paqfan wrote:MANY-MANY THANKS for this great, long, heavy post!

Anyway, I found a small lack in the post, which caused me some headache - in case i'm a starter - to get the gui:
If you install the X-Windows system, to able to launch the "xstart" command, you also have to install the X-Org system:

sudo apt-get install xinit xorg

Thats it.

No problem! But this is addressed in the guide. Its underneath the install Xorg command at the beginning of Part 2.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:08 am

by Gavinmc42

Takes forever to do but it just works
Mate even worked on old model B
A very good post, just what I need to save my 8GB cards from Raspbian bloat.
1.7GB, could even put it on 4GB cards
Quite fast on a Pi3 too

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 1:19 am

by Gavinmc42

Is there a similar way to add the Pixel desktop to Lite?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 10:10 pm

by bobbintb

Gavinmc42 wrote:Is there a similar way to add the Pixel desktop to Lite?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 4:32 pm

by ingvarspec

Thank you so much for this very helpful guide! However, I am using a XFCE desktop, and you have not yet posted how to customize it. How long do you think it will be until you have that posted? I am doing this on a B+, but I just want to be able to set up wifi so I can use this on my Zero. How did you get the XFCE desktop to look like the one in the pictures?

In the terminal, it looked like both of them were installed after I installed them, but in the application menu, I could find no trace of them. I even browsed through the file system. I found a couple of folders labeled python 2.7 and python 3.4, but I can never find an executable file. I tried searching python in the application finder, that didn't work. Also tried right-clicking on a .py file and clicking open with python 2.7 and 3.4, but all it did was flash a window of Xterm terminal, nothing else. Any help, please?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 10:45 pm

by GhostRaider

Theming XFCE is similar to LXDE. You just have to find themes compatible for the XFCE4 desktop. As for Python, well python itself is just a compiler. You need an IDE to actually write python code. There are tutorials out there in using python on Raspberry Pi.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:59 pm

by ingvarspec

Figured out the Python thing. I just needed to install IDLE and IDLE3, since they weren't installed along with Python. Thanks for the help!

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 4:22 am

by renoir

In the session/logout screen, I'm being asked a root password to reboot, and so I can't reboot. The user selection doesn't even show the pi user, how do I fix this? (to at least show the pi user)

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 5:52 am

by jcao

Hi GhostRaider,
I have carefully followed your guide, installed LXDE Desktop on my computer module. After reboot I got a startup screen with a login window and a back ground says debian 8. I tried to login with name "pi" and password "raspberry", but the login window keeps coming back. Is there anything else I should do?
Thanks in advance.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:07 pm

by pi-anazazi

...dunno what keyboard layout you have, but default setting is US or UK iirc. So, maybe have a look at the password

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox GUI

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:03 pm

by GhostRaider

renoir wrote:In the session/logout screen, I'm being asked a root password to reboot, and so I can't reboot. The user selection doesn't even show the pi user, how do I fix this? (to at least show the pi user)

jcao wrote:Hi GhostRaider,
I have carefully followed your guide, installed LXDE Desktop on my computer module. After reboot I got a startup screen with a login window and a back ground says debian 8. I tried to login with name "pi" and password "raspberry", but the login window keeps coming back. Is there anything else I should do?
Thanks in advance.

Are you two still suffering from these problems? I would need to know how to replicated your issues and see where the problem lies.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:08 pm

by wesleywitt

This is an awesome post and just what I needed. One followup question. Is it possible to skip the desktop install part and just have X-Windows + GTK and run a single app, using the Pi as a kiosk running one, single GUI app? Any tips on making that scenario work?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:29 pm

by GhostRaider

wesleywitt wrote:This is an awesome post and just what I needed. One followup question. Is it possible to skip the desktop install part and just have X-Windows + GTK and run a single app, using the Pi as a kiosk running one, single GUI app? Any tips on making that scenario work?

What you want is possible. To run a GUI, you need Xorg with xinit (shown in guide) and a window manager. The thing I am not sure of is how much can a window manager be locked down. You will need to research that.

After you find out what window manager to use, you create an xinit file. This file will contain the commands to execute the window manager and the app you want.

Once you are logged in via command line, you just type startx and it will start whatever commands are in the xinit file. I think it is also possible to automatically execute startx.

Or you can just install a login manager and auto login to a window manager. Might not be a helpful response but it might guide you in the right direction.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:40 am

by jcao

Hi GhostRaider,

Yes. I still have the same problem. I think my keyboard setting is US. It is working correctly.
Thanks again.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:22 am

by aupi

I followed the guide to install Pixel, but after rebooting from the CLI and booting into Pixel for the first time, the keyboard and mouse are not responding?

They work fine if I install the standard Raspbian image.

Any idea's?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 1:17 am

by deltadelta1220

Im having a bit of an issue. I followed the guide just the way its written, but once i boot to the LXDE desktop I cant do anything because my keyboard and mouse will not work at all. Any idea how to fix this?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 2:22 am

by GhostRaider

aupi wrote:I followed the guide to install Pixel, but after rebooting from the CLI and booting into Pixel for the first time, the keyboard and mouse are not responding?

They work fine if I install the standard Raspbian image.

Any idea's?

Strange problem. I haven't encountered such issue. Is it a special type of keyboard/mouse? You didn't skip anything?

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 2:31 am

by aupi

Followed all the steps for Pixel, didn't skip anything. Keyboard works during CLI setup until I reboot into the GUi after the final step. It's a standard USB keyboard and mouse. I've tried them with standard Rasbian and DietPi, and they work 100%.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 4:14 am

by GhostRaider

aupi wrote:Followed all the steps for Pixel, didn't skip anything. Keyboard works during CLI setup until I reboot into the GUi after the final step. It's a standard USB keyboard and mouse. I've tried them with standard Rasbian and DietPi, and they work 100%.

Try reinstalling Raspbian Lite again. Make sure its updated. Maybe disconnect and reconnect the mouse/keyboard usb. Very strange that it doesn't work after GUI. Can't think of anything that can cause that.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:26 am

by w3pmu

This is a great GUIDE, thank you very much!
I have been using the general procedure in this guide for the last 6 months for setting up my Raspberry Pi 3 and Pi Zero units with basic LXDE.
However, your basic procedure using the latest January 11, 2017 Raspbian release image results in the attached Mouse and Keyboard no longer working! It looks like some other people are having the same issue.
I can use SSH to access and work with the RPi and I can use X11VNC to work with the RPi, but the attached keyboard and mouse are locked up completely.

I noticed that I used to use "x11vnc -display:0" to setup the RPi for remote x11vnc. That command no longer works. I now have to use simply "x11vnc -display".
Since I did not experience this problem until using the latest Raspbian-Jessie-Lite Jan 11, 2017 image, something has changed with the latest release that breaks your LXDE and PIXEL procedures. I did not try any of the other procedures.

Can you please help us?
Thank you

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:19 am

by aupi

I tried twice with this method, tried unplugging the keyboard/mouse and even tried a wireless keyboard/mouse that I use on my other Pi, same result.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:59 am

by aupi

w3pmu wrote:However, your basic procedure using the latest January 11, 2017 Raspbian release image results in the attached Mouse and Keyboard no longer working! It looks like some other people are having the same issue

Great someone else that has the issue too ... hopefully we can find a fix!

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:52 am

by Geepeer

aupi wrote:

w3pmu wrote:However, your basic procedure using the latest January 11, 2017 Raspbian release image results in the attached Mouse and Keyboard no longer working! It looks like some other people are having the same issue

Great someone else that has the issue too ... hopefully we can find a fix!

Yep, I also have this problem... Mouse and keyboard work fine in Raspbian Full, but not responding in Lite + Pixel/Lxde.

Re: [GUIDE] Raspbian Lite with PIXEL/LXDE/XFCE/MATE/Openbox

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:56 am

by AlPea

Geepeer wrote:

aupi wrote:

w3pmu wrote:However, your basic procedure using the latest January 11, 2017 Raspbian release image results in the attached Mouse and Keyboard no longer working! It looks like some other people are having the same issue

Great someone else that has the issue too ... hopefully we can find a fix!

Yep, I also have this problem... Mouse and keyboard work fine in Raspbian Full, but not responding in Lite + Pixel/Lxde.

I too had the same problem, was driving me mad. I fixed it by doing the following.